The 5 Worst Snubs Of The 2013 Oscar Nominations

Cloud Atlas earned as many Oscar nominations this morning as you and I: Zero. The sprawling tone poem of a movie swung for the fences by completely struck out with the Academy, posting a giant goose egg when all the nominations were revealed. We never expected Cloud Atlas to compete for Best Picture. But surely the genius of Cloud Atlas could be recognized in an Adapted Screenplay category by Academy members who marveled at the seamless way the film merged the seven storylines from David Mitchell’s massive tome into one interconnected dialogue? Or the herculean efforts that went in to shape-shifting the cast for plotlines in vastly different worlds would be acknowledged in the Make-Up, Visual Effects Production Design or Cinematography categories?

Nope. Instead, Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman scored Oscar nominations, while Cloud Atlas was sent packing. Bashing the Oscar nominations is fruitless, the cyber equivalent of spitting in the wind. Cloud Atlas wouldn’t be a better movie had it scored 11 nominations, and it isn’t a worse movie because the Academy failed to recognize it. The movie remains the movie, and one I deeply admire for its ambition, its courage, its confidence, its lunacy and its impeccable craft. But by failing to recognize the passion and precision that went into such a massive project, the message being sent to filmmakers is, “Stop trying so hard,” when the absolute opposite should be Hollywood’s message, year after year.